«Your highness need not explain. If I go, it will be at my own expense.»
«But it will be necessary to appear with distinction, without sparing.»
«I will spare nothing.»
The hetman›s face brightened; for in truth he had no ready money, though he had plundered Vilna not long before, and, besides, he was greedy by nature. It was also true that the revenues from his immense estates, extending from Livonia to Kieff and from Smolensk to Mazovia, had really ceased to flow in, and the cost of the army increased every day.
«That suits me,» said he; «Ganhoff would begin at once to knock on my coffers, but you are another kind of man. Hear, then, your instructions.»
«I am listening with care.»
«First, you will go to Podlyasye. The road is perilous; for the confederates, who left the camp, are t
